The end of on era as the past Executive Inn & Suites, now the Fortuna Inn & suites is being torn down. Once the hub of the Tucson show for many of us, the hotel has slowly deteriorated as the vendors moved on to other more suitable localities.

Yesterday was what some consider as the start of "Tucson Shows" - The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum holds it annual "Mineral Madness - early preview" for members of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society. This year was special as the first wave of two major collections that were donated to the museum were put out for sale and the quality was very good indeed. I was able to pick up a terrific Dalnegorst Quartz for $18 - see photo. All proceeds went to the museum.

However, the highlight of the evening was when someone inside yelled out - WOW! look outside. It had been cloudy and rainy all day so no one expected much of a sunset but the photos below show what we all were treated to.

Posted: Jan 18, 2020 17:59 Post subject: One of the biggest novelties of Tucson 2020 will be Tucson 2021!

Barcelona 18/01/2019

Curiously, one of the biggest novelties of Tucson 2020 will be Tucson 2021!

We have seen in the images of Joseph d'Oliveira the decline of the Executive Inn Hotel, which was for many years the most important Hotel in Tucson, and in 2020 we will see the end of its successor, the HTCC Hotel that on 2021 ends because the Arizona Mineral & Fossil Show leaves it and moves in block to the Hotel El Conquistador and this will produce a 180º change in the entire structure of the whole Fair.

The Westward Look and the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show® (Main Show) will remain unchanged but the so-called "Satellite Shows" will have to be re-organized.
Will be the Oracle street the new heart of the Show with The Mineral City Show in front or will El Conquistador take that heart of the Fair to the North and the axis El Conquistador-Westward Look will be decisive in the future?

The end of on era as the past Executive Inn & Suites, now the Fortuna Inn & suites is being torn down. Once the hub of the Tucson show for many of us, the hotel has slowly deteriorated as the vendors moved on to other more suitable localities.

Posted: Jan 19, 2020 11:34 Post subject: Re: One of the biggest novelties of Tucson 2020 will be Tucson 2021!

Jordi Fabre wrote:

Will be the Oracle street the new heart of the Show with The Mineral City Show in front or will El Conquistador take that heart of the Fair to the North and the axis El Conquistador-Westward Look will be decisive in the future?

Yes, the only constant here is change.

Two other shows have moved into the Top Gem/Mineral City/La Fuente area along Oracle Road.

What used to be called "Tucson's New Mineral Show" which was previously held at that funky theatre venue on Grant is now renamed "Mineral Habit" and will be located at 1920 N. Oracle Road just north of Top Gem from Feb 4 to 10.

And one new sales facility will occur at 1111 N. Main Ave. just north of Speedway - hosted by "Raining Rocks on Main". (Note that Oracle becomes Main then becomes Grenada even though it's the same road.)

Hope you will join us for the tour! It is a gorgeous venue! Relaxing, GREEN, pools (5), mountains, golf courses and lots and lots of selling spaces; ballrooms, meeting rooms, selling rooms and sleeping rooms for guest to get away from the dust, the dirt, the noise, the parking problems.....

I am planning to spend about 9 - 10 days in Tucson. This will be my sixth time in the past 15 years. But, as I am getting on in years, this will most likely be my swan-song trip to Tucson.

So, I am doing an entirely informal and non-scientific poll as to who might NOT be coming to Tucson this year. I am trying to ascertain the changing attendance patterns from the attendees of the past 25 or so years.
As an addendum, I'll venture a guess that some of the older attendees come primarily for socializing rather than to buy and might just be downsizing (or planning to downsize) their personal collections.

Specifically, I am ONLY interested in those NOT coming this year for the first or second year after coming regularly for some years before that. And, I am only interested in those NOT coming primarily because of advancing age.

I am NOT interested in those NOT coming because of other conflicts, loss of interest, finances, not being a dealer, or those NOT coming who also haven't come in several years or longer.

Please only respond if you have come within the past year or two, but will NOT be coming this year primarily because of your advancing age with increasing difficulty of travel.

I am planning to spend about 9 - 10 days in Tucson. This will be my sixth time in the past 15 years. But, as I am getting on in years, this will most likely be my swan-song trip to Tucson.

So, I am doing an entirely informal and non-scientific poll as to who might NOT be coming to Tucson this year. I am trying to ascertain the changing attendance patterns from the attendees of the past 25 or so years.
As an addendum, I'll venture a guess that some of the older attendees come primarily for socializing rather than to buy and might just be downsizing (or planning to downsize) their personal collections.

Specifically, I am ONLY interested in those NOT coming this year for the first or second year after coming regularly for some years before that. And, I am only interested in those NOT coming primarily because of advancing age.

I am NOT interested in those NOT coming because of other conflicts, loss of interest, finances, not being a dealer, or those NOT coming who also haven't come in several years or longer.

Please only respond if you have come within the past year or two, but will NOT be coming this year primarily because of your advancing age with increasing difficulty of travel.

Maybe no responses so, thanks for any replies! BOB

Hi Bob,
I may not fully meet the requirements you are looking for but thought this is worth responding to. My first time at the show was in 1972 driving for Josie Scripps while still in High School. I have been going to the show on and off over the years including the 25th and 50th anniversary shows and hope to still be around for the 75th, my next planed trip to Tucson. Now to what you are looking for. I am now 65 years old and like a lot of folks age brings different issues. What was an easy long days drive for me is now a 2 day drive there and back. My night vision has also over the years been getting worse and worse to the point I no longer drive at night for the safety of other people out at the same time I am driving. So given the time of the year the show is this makes it hard to enjoy all that Tucson has to offer other than the show. You did not want to hear about finances but that is also going to be a reason for the older folks not to come. Lots of us are on SS and/or a small pension that covers the general costs of living but not much else. I think most of us know the costs of the hotels, food and gas to get there and taking all of that in count does not always leave money left over to the buy the minerals we would like to add to the collection, if we can find any to add. Lots of us like myself have been collecting for 50 years and our collections are at the point that we are happy with what we did with them. I chose a long time ago to just collect minerals from the US and have something in the collection from all 50 states (in the 4cm-6cm range) so this makes it even harder to add to. Anyway, hope this helps with your poll.

As I've posted many times in the past, the "Tucson Show" starts for me when Adam Wright of the Adelaide Mine in Tasmania arrives with his new crocoite shipment.

For this season, there's were some interesting new items and quite a few of the "usual" great crocoites. The photos below show what Adam calls "The Mohawk" - lots and lots of lustrous orange/red needles with black manganese oxides mixed in on a "flattish" matrix. A really nice piece safely housed in an acrylic container.

Adam also had a few black crocoites - more likely, manganese oxides after crocoite - one photo attached.

After visiting Adam, I toured around what is becoming the main mineral focus area - in and around Top Gem/Sun Gem/La Fuente/Mineral City on Oracle Road. Some dealers were actually open or soon to be open and there was a new "Matrix India" tent put up just behind La Fuente. See photos.

Spent some time in and around the Top Gem area and the HTCC today. Very few dealers are open yet but there is lots of setup activity and a number of dealers plan to open tomorrow and certainly by the weekend. The vendors at the Top Gem annex, Sun Gem and Mineral City are not associated with any promoter or show so they can open their private rooms whenever they wish.

Also of note - to quote the Monty Python movie Holy Grail - "I'm not dead yet!" - and that appears to be the situation at the HTCC. It looks like the owner will be holding his own show at the hotel. See attachment. Last year lots of dealers had major complaints about HTCC condition, parking and potholes - but there were also lots of complaints about moving 12 miles north to the Conquistador not to mention the price (motel room and show fee).

Bob Kerr's last sentence or two is food for thought for another thread. "Consider the economics of being a dealer at the Tucson show".

For high end dealers from Europe, for example, it means travel, about 2 weeks of lodging, food, and shipping (both to and from Tucson) several hundred fragile hi end specimens for sale.
For lower end dealers it means sales, sales ,and more sales to meet their expenses. All worthy of consideration prior to committing to being a dealer out there. Bob

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